Elder Dalton E. Griffin: We Ain't in Utah Anymore, Elder!

First week in the field...we ain't in Utah anymore, Elder... holy smokes!! Can I just say that I love to fly. That was a fun experience for me. We arrived in Pittsburgh last Monday were we met President Bednar. He gave us all a big hug and gave us pass along cards and told us to go to work. We met a gal from West Virginia who told us that she would love to have us come over and talk to her about Jesus.

Pennsylvania is a different place. No mountains. Just rolling hills filled with some of the greenest trees you'll ever lay eyes on. My companion/trainer is Elder Goeckeritz. He has been out for 21 months. He loves his ukulele. I'm in a little town called Berwick. If you don't know where that is that's okay. It took me two days to remember the name of the town. I've met so many great people here though. They love God and Jesus. There are a ton of Christian churches around, but ours is a 15 minute drive from our apartment. It's the only LDS church house in the area for Berwick and Bloomsburg... At least I think it is anyway.

There is this store out here called ALDI. It like a super cheap Wal-Mart. It will beat most of Wal-Mart's prices. Heroin is a supper big problem out here. Almost everyone you talk to has been addicted to it, or has known someone addicted to it. School starts this week for the kids around here. They have early morning seminary, but some live so faraway that they have to do it online or join the class via Skype. The humidity isn't a problem until it gets hot. Then it becomes outright unbearable. The forests around here are old. You can feel it. The locals have told us about a lot of haunted places around here.

So things are going well out here. Our apartment is nice. Except for the fact that it is right along main street. People out here love their street bikes, and loud cars. The streets out here are weird. They are a bunch of one way streets until you get out to the highway. Berwick is a very old place. Old houses and churches. Apparently out east if you put candles in your windows then that's a sign of welcome. First time I saw it I thought it was creepy.

There is this nuclear power plant to the east of us. One day this alarm went off. Usually it's a short one to gather the fire fighters, but this one carried on for two to three minuets. They were doing a test. It was kind of spooky. If it was the real deal then the siren would not have stopped. It's like sitting at the base of a volcano!!

Glad to hear that everyone is so excited for school to start. You have to know that the first thing that I bought were two gallons of whole milk. I've been a VERY satisfied person!!

One thing that I find funny is when we go out finding, we never meet who we see out to go see. We run into other people who end up giving us their number and saying that we can call them back. We will have to wait to see what will happen!! Until next week!

Y'all take care now!!!!!